


Curtain Call

by Random2002



Category: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue Series - Mackenzi Lee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Drama Teacher Monty, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Music Teacher Percy, Mutual Pining, School Play, Scipio is the headteacher, canon-typical idiocy, learning to get along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26339875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Random2002/pseuds/Random2002
Summary: Cheshire's Drama Class needs to put on a play. The Music class needs to compose music. By all logic, the school play should be a collaborative musical. Perfectly Sound No?The issue is, Mr. Montague and Mr. Newton hate each other.
Relationships: Henry "Monty" Montague/Percy Newton
Comments: 5
Kudos: 11





	1. The Announcement.

Cheshire Academy's Drama class is set to put on a play. Self-written, directed and arranged it's the ultimate grade achiever; the class is set, the roles are parceled out and everyone is buzzing with ideas. It's was Mr. Montague's -affectionately referred to as 'Monty' by his students- favourite part of the course and this year, there's five students in his class, just enough manage a performance with this small cast. Students had gathered around the table now, putting their heads down to draft first concepts. This moment of pause gave Monty the time to scroll through his emails, he was notoriously bad at keeping up with them. An email from the head from this morning? Monty frowned and leant a little closer to have a look at the writing, his eyes widened as he shot up.  
"I need to handle something- keep working!" he called already halfway out of the room and out onto the corridor. 

On the other side of said corridor Cheshire Academy's music class was in session. The students over there had to compose their own pieces of music as part of their course. The room was filled with low and high noises from an array of musical instruments as each individual student warmed up. To anyone outside it sounded like a deafening turmoil of sound but to Mr. Newton, the noise only said improvement and practice. He too found a moment of peace to check his emails, in his case this was quite unusual as Mr. Newton preferred to have everything set and ready. An email from Scipio. It said that- Percy snorted and shook his head. No. No way. He slowly let the class know that he had to leave for a moment and checked the door to be shut all the way before making his way down the corridor. 

You see, The Headteacher or more informally known as Scipio had the genius idea of killing two birds with one stone. If the drama class needed a play, and the music class needed to compose music then the school performance should logically be a musical. 'The classes can  
collaborate' he wrote. And 'the drama class could have extra background characters in scenes that don't require live music'. Everyone wins this way. A perfectly logical idea. 

There was only one issue

Mr. Montague and Mr. Newton could not stand each other.

This was a fact well known throughout the school, the two teachers joined the staff around the same time and haven't been able to function around each other at all. Their fondness for making snide comments directed at each other and inability to be seated next to each other  
in any staff meetings was infamous with other staff and students alike. Scipio manages to be patient with them, still secretly hoping the two men manage to get along with each other eventually. This new plan would force them to start to communicate though the chances are pretty slim. He assumed that student wellbeing would be put above their own petty rivalry. No one actually knew what started the argument. Monty seems to be convinced that Percy acts like he's better than him in some way and that he's the one that is the roadblock in the way of their hypothetical friendship. Percy finds Monty insufferable, claims that the other man is incapable of being serious and getting any work done. They self sabotage before even giving themselves a chance to try and get along. It was amusing at first, but now their outright refusal to work with each other is grating on Scipio's nerves, after all they work in the same wing of the school. At least the students seemed to find it a refreshing change to daily school life as well as free entertainment.

"What do you mean collaborate!" Monty's voice rang through Scipio's office after he had pushed past the poor receptionist and her feeble attempts at stopping him "I can't work with him!"  
"You got my email then" Scipio's voice sounded tired as he slowly rubbed the bridge of his nose. He should have expected this honestly.  
"Yes! and I don't agree to this!"  
"Monty its already been decide-"  
"Scipio, this will be impossible to pull off" a new voice had entered the room in the form of Percy fucking Newton and his stupid face and stupid perfect freckles. He was leaning on the doorway looking cool and collected because of course he always has to have all the class just to make Monty look like the idiot.  
"I think the contrary, sit down both of you"  
"I have-"  
"-class" Monty was already saying that, of course this guy just has to cut him off every time!  
"Sit. down" Uh-oh now that tone of voice made Monty sit right down, Newton sighed and threw up his arms like he was too good and too above the whole situation. What a prick. He tried to pretend he was bloody perfect, Saint Percy. It rubbed Monty the wrong way along the entire length of his body. Newton pulled up a chair and sat down next to Monty, probably deliberately on his deaf side. Scipio was already leaning  
forward on his desk. Monty instinctively leant back.  
"I know you boys have had trouble getting along in the past but" Newton scoffed  
"That's an understatement" he muttered and it set Monty's blood alight, he opened his mouth ready to shoot back something snarky.  
"-But" Scipio pressed on "this isn't about you. It's about providing the students with the best possible chance at the grades they deserve, got it?" he stared them down and Monty hated that Scipio still treated him like an unruly student, though he was now a grown man. He also hated that Scipio was absolutely right. His students took priority, even if he had to tolerate Newton around.  
"Mr. Montague." Newton stressed in that obnoxiously soft voice of his "is impossible to work with. He can never be serious"  
"...you cant be serious" Monty shot back, the insult hanging between them lamely as two pairs of eyes surveyed him with obvious judgement.  
Not his best one then. He huffed.  
"regardless, may I remind you that you're the adults here. So work it out, your departments historically have had good results and I'm expecting your skirmishes to not affect those. How are you expecting your students to work in a team if you can't?" damn, he's actually making good points. If only this wasn't at the expense of Monty's already limited social skills. People in general were difficult, but people he didn't like? He had no clue how this would possibly work. 

After the talk with Scipio the nail in the coffin had been set. Cheshire Academy's drama and music classes will collaborate to perform a musical during the April holidays. If Mr. Montague and Mr. Newton manage not to kill each other by that time...

The door to the drama classroom slammed shut. Monty huffed, that was a little harder than he intended which made both him and his students flinch. He carefully stroked two fingers over the doorframe.  
"Sorry guys," he smiled sheepishly. A level classes are usually pretty small but this year Monty's five students made for a cozy group, two of them clearly here only hoping for an easy grade judging from their faces down on the desk in the back. He was lucky to have three  
enthusiasts though. Small student groups meant he could easily stay on top of their work and could put more focus into each of them, heaven for a teacher. However, teaching wasn't even something he imagined himself doing when he was younger; his days as an aspiring actor were sadly over these days along with his ear. After the incident, he didn't think he could find anything else to do that gave him quite the thrill as the stage and the lights that theatre brought him. But now, seeing three pairs of shining eyes watch him carefully he knows he found that place. He may be too scared to get on the stage again but he can surely encourage the young minds to do so.  
"What's going on Monty?" asked Jeanne, her notebook open in front of her with about a million ideas for the play. A clever one, that one.  
"The headteacher just gave me the announcement that..." he trailed off, of course the kids knew his attitude towards Newton and his nerves were already dancing the macarena off the edge of his sanity as he heard the ungodly noise masquerading as a brass instrument ring out  
through the corridor. His eye twitched.  
"He announced that?" Helena raised an eyebrow, her Spanish accent curving around her words slightly. Her English was getting better every day. Her eyes made up for any missed words, holding a judgement that said 'come on Monty just say it you're wasting my learning time'.  
Monty swallowed, teenagers could be absolutely terrifying.  
"He announced..." he clears his throat "that we are to collaborate with the music class in order to put on a musical." His words hang in the air for a moment, held in time and allowed to sink in. Helena smiles  
"Is that all?" she asks. Sinjon bursts into laughter from his spot, leant back in his chair in the back.  
"Yes, thank you for that Sinjon." Monty grumbled looking down "look, I know that we have some issues with that class,"  
"You have issues. Sir" Jeanne leant forward on her hands, amusement pulling at her lips "My girlfriend is in that class. This will be a cakewalk"  
"And my brother" pipes in Helena  
"and your brother too, no?" Sinjon calls. Monty lets his eyes narrow. Adrian, the little traitor was in Newton's class also. He didn't know how you could betray family like that, first the little goblin applies to the sixth form Monty worked at, getting his hopes up of spending more time with his little brother but then purposefully chose the one class with the one teacher his brother never got along with. The audacity!

Monty rubbed over the faded scarring on his chin and sighed. "Well I'm glad you're all enjoying this so much." The sound of trumpets, trombones and whatever other ungodly instruments Newton harboured in his room grew louder. When Monty looked out of the glass in the heavy fire door of the classroom he could see Newton stood in the middle of the music room. His stance was relaxed and he was saying something. God knows how that man could hear himself over all that ruckus. Suddenly, he looked over and brown eyes locked with blue. Then, Newton winked. His grin was practically feral and Monty knew in an instant that he was planning something. He flushed in fury, the rush of blood quickly making its way across his face as he looked away quickly. Damned Newton. Yeah, this was going to be impossible to pull off.


	2. The Merge

"I can't believe-"  
"That you have to work with Percy. Yes, we heard you the first fifteen times Monty" Felicity sighed, barely looking up from her book. She was trying to enjoy her lunch break peacefully catching up on a novel she started a couple days ago but her brother felt the need to bother her. Besides her, Sim laughed and leant back into the hard sofa in the teacher's lounge. It made the cushions all crooked, forcing Felicity to shuffle a little back into comfortable position. Monty opened his mouth to whine again but Sim cut him off swiftly  
"I don't understand what your issue with Percy is, he wouldn't hurt a fly"  
"He's a prick! Entirely self-righteous and he thinks he's better than me"  
"It's not hard to be better than you" Felicity commented, pushing her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose  
"Fuck you Fel,"  
"Fuck you too," She shot back before adding on "do not call me Fel" her lips curled slightly, adding a teasing tone to the exchange.  
"Seriously, what is your problem with Percy?" a new voice had arrived in the form of Johanna, who carefully sat down at the table with her lunch, arranging her skirt as to not crease it.  
"They have a rivalry since Percy allegedly stole Monty's...classroom?"  
"Not allegedly! He stole it!" Felicity sighed "He did! And he's been a prick to me ever since, always hovering over my shoulder, waiting to laugh at my mistakes and to smirk those plush lips-"  
"My Monty, did you just say plush?" Sim grinned and leant her forearms on her knees "Felicity, i think he just said plush"  
"No I did not!" he squawked  
"Yes, he did"  
"I believe he did in fact say plush" Johanna smiled, easily catching onto the beginning of Sim's teasing  
"Dare I say, you sound like you want to kiss him"  
"I bloody well can't stand him" Monty sniffed, he hated when the girls teamed up against him- which was often. They loved to mess with him. Sim rolled her eyes.  
"Well, you can't change this so at least let us eat in peace" he huffed, crossing his arms and slumping into the lumpy cushions. Johanna patted his knee sympathetically before picking up her sandwich. The empty wrappers in Felicity's lunchbox suggested she had already eaten, which instinctively soothed Monty's elder brother senses as she tended to forget to eat when she was particularly into a book. Percy didn't usually eat with them in the teacher's lounge, clearly it was because he was above socialising with his colleagues. 

"And besides, how would he steal your classroom if you started at the same time?" Johanna piped up, not being able to help herself. Sim and Felicity groaned, feeling another rant coming on.  
"Exactly, i was supposed to get that classroom! Then he joined and swiped it right from under me!" Sim blinked.  
"You know you sound like a lunatic right now? Percy's classroom has soundproofing... because its for music you dunce" she said slowly which only made Monty blow up his cheeks and stubbornly cling to his point  
"I very well know the truth!" Felicity groaned and tossed a pillow at him  
"Shut up! I'm trying to read, if you've finished eating then go be dramatic somewhere else" Little sisters, who needs them? Certainly not Monty, he thought taking his things and starting in the way of his classroom, remaining in employment after she had joined the staff was his biggest mistake. You would think siblings would back you up but no, his were both traitors! 

Speaking of both. Adrian was sat on one of the tables in his room speaking to Jeanne. In fact now that Monty looked around, his classroom had been invaded by music room students all four of them. It was quite convenient actually, they could form a musical quartet- but that wasn't the point! The point was that Monty's safe haven had been...disrupted and..and desecrated by their instruments. Yes their instruments, massive cases on his tables and one of these things is the culprit of that awful noise grating on his ears for the past month. They're now here, but why? He looks around again and spots a bright pink post it note on his desk, striding quickly he went to look at it squinting his eyes at his own writing

**First Merged Meeting today.  
\- Practice smiling exercise to act like you're not dying inside.  
-Show Newton what an amazing teacher you are and rub his nose in it!**

Well damn, it was too late for the exercises and he was rusty on improvisation too. He would have to rely on his usual charming persona. Except now Newton was opening his door. Coming into _his_ classroom and all of a sudden it hit Monty that he will have to deal with this all the way until April. Newton watched the classroom with a calculated stare, clearly looking for something to nitpick but there of course wasn't anything. Monty had deep cleaned the classroom over the weekend just to avoid any judgement. The other man sighed and rubbed his temples, then the spots just above his eyes and just for a moment, he looked tired. Typical. Nothing was ever good enough for him of course. Monty felt his hair bristle with annoyance but quickly decided to be the better man and to show Newton up with his amazing display of tact and charm- so he just nodded in his direction and focused his gaze on Adrian instead.  
"Goblin." He stated as a greeting, Adrian grinned lightly the family dimples on full display.  
"Old man" he retorted causing Monty's eyes to narrow  
"Watch it or I'll steal your violin" the younger boys eyes widened a little but the same smile returned as he caught that Monty was only joking. The movement of chairs had caught the elder Montague's attention as he lifted his head to look at the now total of nine teenagers sat at the tables. Oh okay teacher mode time, Monty cleared his throat-  
-and was quickly elbowed in the ribs as Newton stepped forward.  
"Good Afternoon!" He stated while Monty was trying to slowly not cough up his lungs behind him. "My Year Thirteen's and of course... Mr. Montague's class" he added as an afterthought making Monty boil all over. He would show him, as soon as he regained his breath. "As you have been notified we will be working together on this years-" Monty managed to finally stand up and push himself past Newton, to stand in front of the class cutting him off quickly  
"-this years play! Yes. Ahem," He cleared his throat "This year's play is being engineered by our incredibly talented drama group and will be an adventure musical set in the eighteenth century. I hope that Mr. Newton had briefed you on this." He announced in the voice he used for adult conversations, like going to the bank. "Any general questions before we begin discussing the details?" A boy with a very young looking face and dark skin put up his hand. He wasn't one of Monty's so he just nodded his way awkwardly "yes, um..."  
"Georgie" Newton supplied. The boy smiled shyly before turning back to Monty before addressing the elephant in the room  
"What happened to your face?" Ah yes the age old question, Monty usually allocated time to it at the start of each year. This isn't his class though, he knew especially from the faces Jeanne, Helena and Sinjon pulled ready to chastise the other student. Percy stepped forward to say something, deliver a similar telling off but Monty stepped forward again. This was his problem and he wasn't going to punish curiosity, he was cool like that.  
"Its fine, its fine everyone. You see I was on a voyage with pirates and I suffered the business end of a gun" He grinned. Jeanne snorted  
"I thought you said you were mauled by a bear"  
"You told me you were involved in a motorcycling accident on the set of a film you were a stuntman for!" Sinjon insisted. Yes, Chaos. Monty grinned  
"Well, you'll never know which one it is." he finished, winking at Adrian who's lips curled upwards slightly. As appropriate for a drama teacher, Monty certainly had a flair for the dramatic. Newton rolled his eyes but pulled up a seat by one of the tables, leading the class into a discussion. It calmed Monty slightly, having the attention turned away from him.

The class was a nightmare. Newton didn't seem to agree with anything Monty suggested. The man acted like he had experience in theatre which Monty, very much had. No, confetti was not too dramatic! Who cares that it wasn't invented in the seventeen hundreds. Newton just loved to ruin everything fun about the theatre truly. Monty grumbled, pulling his blanket closer rethinking his passive aggressive email over for the third time. Just enough nuance to remind him how smart and amazing you are but don't be polite because he absolutely does not. Deserve. It

**From: MontagueHenry@Cheshireac.com  
To: NewtonPercy@Cheshireac.com  
Subject: The School Play. **

**Mr. Newton,  
** After today's meeting between our classes I would like to let you know that I would appreciate you putting your trust in me in guiding students to a play,  
please refer to my previous involvement in English theatre and trust that I know the correct procedure in putting such a show on... 


End file.
